It's March madness, not spring fever

Wednesday

Mar 20, 2013 at 6:00 AMMar 20, 2013 at 2:35 PM

Today is the first day of spring — is your snowblower gassed up and ready to roll? “Winter doesn't want to quit any time soon,” said Kristina L. Pydynowski, a senior meteorologist for AccuWeather.com. “It's going to be a while before you see spring weather.”

By Bill Fortier CORRESPONDENT

Today is the first day of spring — is your snowblower gassed up and ready to roll?

By mid-afternoon Tuesday about 6.5 inches of snow had fallen at Worcester Regional Airport from the latest storm to hit the area. That brought the yearly snowfall total to 107.5 inches and forecasters say more will probably fall by the time the weather pattern breaks next month.

“Winter doesn't want to quit any time soon,” said Kristina L. Pydynowski, a senior meteorologist for AccuWeather.com. “It's going to be a while before you see spring weather.”

And that's a big change from last year when every day in the third week of March saw temperatures in the 70s.

“We were already open for three weeks last year,” said Roger Belhumeur, whose son Matthew owns Bell's Lawn and Garden Center in Auburn. The hope this year is to open the business by the end of the week to sell Easter flowers.

“Today's weather set us back a day or two,” Mr. Belhumeur said. “As it is, we're going to have to clear away 5-foot high snow banks to get the parking lot ready.”

Just in case you're wondering, long-range computer models that forecasters use show a large pre-Easter storm off the East Coast.

The 107.5 inches of snow makes this the fifth snowiest winter since records started being kept in Worcester more than 120 years ago. More than 75 inches of snow have fallen since Feb. 1 and the website Goldensnowglobe.com says Worcester has received more snow this winter than any other city with a population of 100,000 or more.

Snowfall this winter has easily exceeded the amount piled up by traditionally snowy Buffalo, Syracuse, Rochester, Erie, Denver and Anchorage, according to National Weather Service records.

Ms. Pydynowski said AccuWeather's long-range forecasters say we can expect to be colder than average until about mid-April when a high-pressure cell in Northeast Canada that is forcing cold air south into New England relaxes its grip on the area.

The weather pattern is so strong that southwest Greenland was six degrees warmer at 2 p.m. yesterday than Worcester Regional Airport.

“Your forecast until mid-April is colder than normal with an occasional snowstorm,” said Ms. Pydynowski.

The National Weather Service's long-range prediction branch is also predicting below average temperatures for the rest of the month.

Climatologist Joseph S. D'Aleo said the current weather pattern could also mean at least one or two more chances of snow in the upcoming weeks. He said there will be some storms off the East Coast, but it is too early to say if they will hit the area. For example, a storm could bring light snow to Boston tomorrow night, said Mr. D'Aleo and Alan Dunham, a meteorologist in the NWS office in Taunton.

A bigger storm is expected to go harmlessly out to sea early next week. Mr. D'Aleo, however, did offer some hope to fans of spring weather.

“Usually when blocking patterns like the one we are in break, you see a quick change to a warmer weather pattern,” he said.

Lou L. Pappadelis, general manager of the Shining Rock Golf Course in Northbridge, said the course opened on March 16 last year, which is the same day Cyprian Keyes Golf Club in Boylston opened.

“Last year was a wonderful year,” he said. “The weather was wonderful and the conditions were about as good as they can be. This year when people ask me when the course is going to open I tell them I can't answer that question because I don't know.”

Cyprian Keyes Director of Golf Operations Scott E. Hjckey said the course can usually be expected to be open from April 15 to Oct. 15. Last year it was open until Dec. 14. This year he is hoping it can open on April 15.

Mr. D'Aleo said his advice for the next several weeks is to be patient and keep the snow shovels handy.

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